ENGLISH LOCAL AFFAIRS 579 



but the cost per of assessable value is lowest in London (6s.5.gd., ranging up to ios.4d. 

 in Leeds). Education is found to cost 6s.y.6d. per head more, and police 3S.io.2d. more 

 in London than the average for the other cities. Higher prices, salaries, wages, and cost 

 of lands and building are adduced as explanations of the higher total cost per head 

 in London. 



Alderman Sir David Burnett (an auctioneer and surveyor by profession, was elected 

 Lord Mayor of London on September 28, 1912, in succession to Sir Thomas Boor Cros- 

 by. The London Borough Council elections took place on November i, 1912, and as 

 the result the Municipal Reform party retained the general ascendancy which it had 

 previously held. To a total number o'f 1362 seats in the 28 borough councils there were 

 returned 1902 Municipal Reformers, 252 Progressives, 33 labour representatives, 15 

 socialists, 23 independents and 37 non-party members (the borough of Stoke Newington 

 electing a non-party council of 30). The Progressives outnumber Municipal Reformers 

 in the councils of Bethnal Green, Southwark and Battersea, the result in the borough 

 last named constituting a Progressive gain; on the other hand that party lost its previous 

 majority over the Municipal Reformers in Hackney. 



Municipal Boundary Alterations, England and Wales. Among recent changes adopted or 

 proposed in the boundaries or constitution of boroughs, the following may be noticed. 



The area of the city of Bath was increased at the expense of the county of Somerset by 

 1767 acres in 191 1 ; a population of 18,454 an d a rateable value of 81,043 were thus added. 



The Greater Birmingham scheme came into operation on November 9, 1911. The effect 

 of the scheme was to include in the city the borough of Aston Manor and the urban district 

 of Erdington (Warwickshire); the urban district of Handsworth, with Perry Barr (Stafford- 

 shire) ; the rural district formed by the parish of Yardley and the greater part of the urban 

 district of King's Norton and Northfield (Worcestershire). Quinton (Worcester) had been 

 absorbed in 1909. The whole of these districts thus became part of the geographical county 

 of Warwick. Birmingham, by this extension, was made the second largest city in the empire, 

 but it only maintained that position until November 1912, when the extension of the bound- 

 aries of Glasgow (q.v.) raised the Scottish above the midland city. The area of Birmingham 

 was increased from 13,478 acres to 43,601 acres. The population in 1911 was 840,202. 

 Without the added areas it would have been 525,833. The population at the end of 1912 

 was estimated at about 854,000. The corporation now consists of a Lord Mayor, thirty 

 aldermen and ninety councillors, and the city is divided into 30 wards. The water, gas and 

 electric lighting, and tramway undertakings belong to the corporation. The whole of the 

 city with the exception of Handsworth (which remains in the West Bromwich Union) forms 

 one parish for poor law purposes. 



Application has been made for a charter of incorporation .or Buxton. At Chesterfield, 

 01 which the Duke of Devonshire was mayor in 1910-11, the borough boundaries have 

 been considerably extended, the area being increased from 1212 to 2611 acres, and the 

 population by some 10,000 to 37,429. A scheme for the extension of the borough of Dudley 

 is under consideration. The borough of Eastbourne was extended in April 1911, to include 

 part of the parish of Willingdon. A scheme is being promoted for the extension of the 

 borough of Kidderminster. By a provisional order granted in May 1912 Roundhay, Sea- 

 croft, Shadwell and part of Crossgates have been incorporated in Leeds, extending the area 

 of the city by 4670 acres, and adding 7620 to the population, while the rateable value is 

 increased by 56,640. Northampton was redivided in 1912 into 12 wards instead of 9, and 

 the number of town councillors was increased from 36 to 48. In 1911, besides being the 

 scene of the coronation review and providing hospitality for ships of foreign navies, Ports- 

 mouth entertained the British Association, British Pharmaceutical Society, Institute of 

 Auctioneers, National Free Church Council, Co-operative Congress, Incorporate Municipal 

 Electrical Association, South-Eastern and Metropolitan Poor Law Conference, and smaller 

 bodies. It was considered opportune that Portsmouth should be raised to the rank of a 

 city, but the petition was refused. In 1912 Reading enlarged its boundaries by. including 

 Caversham and part of Tilehurst, in spite of some opposition. Its acreage has been increased 

 from 5876 to 9107 acres, and its population from 75,214 to more than 88,000. The union of 

 Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham as a county borough has been considered. In the census 

 of 1911 Sheffield was found to be the largest city in Yorkshire, with a population of 454,603 

 as compared with 445,568 in Leeds, which had previously held the first position. On April 

 I, !9i2,Tinsley was added to Sheffield, giving an additional area of 685 acres, a population 

 of 5270 and a rateable value of 42,659. A movement is on foot for the incorporation of 

 Stourbridge. In Cheshire the urban district of Wallasey, virtually a residential suburb of 

 Liverpool, which since 1901 has increased its population by 24,935 (pop. in 1911, 78,514), 

 was constituted by charter, dated July 27, 1910, a municipal borough, and will become a 

 county borough on April i, 1913. The borough of Wallsend was increased in October 1910 



